The end of 2014!

Thank you to everyone who came to my stand this year, particularly in the run up to Christmas! All the fairs are now over and I am reviewing what items were popular and attracted most interest.
I really enjoyed the weekend fair at Lyme Regis, particularly as people could wander between both galleries, the shops and café at Town Mill. There was a real buzz and Christmas atmosphere; there was a good range of hand made items available, giving lots of ideas for Christmas presents! We were also entertained all weekend by the band playing in the courtyard who bravely kept going despite the cold and sometimes wintry weather!

I have really enjoyed practising making hollowed vases and also making the large fruit bowls. Both attracted a lot of interest and so I will definitely be developing both ranges for next year!

Here are a few photos of my table at the fairs, some vases and a large 14" diameter Ash fruit bowl.

More demonstrating!

I've really enjoyed all the demonstrating this summer, mostly outside in a gazebo! Luckily the weather has been fantastic this year as its definitely more fun than being indoors in the summer! The added bonus of being outside is that there is less sweeping up to do!

The photos below were taken at the Chard Reservoir Nature Reserve open day and Ferne Animal Sanctuary summer fair. At both events I demonstrated and sold small rustic bowls made from wet ash or oak from the reservoir, donating the proceeds to both causes.

At the beginning of September I demonstrated at Yandles show as part of Martock and District Woodturners Club. The club stand included a large display showcasing a range of club members' work. The following photos show a view of the stand and the club demonstrators in action.
The stand is always popular with show visitors, whether they are fellow woodturners or those interested in other crafts on show.

Rolly Munro Demo

Better late then never... here are some photos from the Rolly Munro demo in Burnham on Sea in August. A great demo, worth a reminder even if it was a few weeks ago!

In the first four photos Rolly is showing the versatility of his tool in bowl turning. He uses the ring cutter with the cover attached in the usual way but also his smaller cutter which is used without the cover.

These photos show Rolly making a double bowl by turning a hollow form and a circle of wood turned from the same piece of wood; the hollowed section is cut in half on the bandsaw then joined with the circle of wood to give the double bowl. Very technical and expertly made by Rolly! He made it look easy (well almost!)

Club demonstrations

I was very pleased to be invited to demonstrate as part of Woodbury Woodturners Club "Yandles" style demonstration night last week. I demonstrated adding various types of colouring and texturing to the rims of bowls. Other demonstrations included pen making and turning a basic bowl. I really enjoyed the evening showing the techniques I use and also meeting new turners! Club member Keith West took these photos and has kindly allowed me to use them in my blog.

On Tuesday I demonstrated at one of my clubs, Martock and District Woodturners, along with two other turners. Dave Appleby gave an excellent talk and demonstration on how to prepare a blank for turning from freshly cut logs and how to rough turn a bowl ready for drying. Myself and Colin Lawes showed a range of techniques we use to try and achieve a quality finish on our turnings. Between us we included the finish cut with the gouge on the inside of a bowl, sheer scraping, sanding and buffing. It is definitely more nerve-racking demonstrating formally in front of the whole club rather than a small group! However, overall I think it was well received!

April 2014

12th April - I've just come back from a successful Yandles show, demonstrating as part of Martock and District Woodturners Club. Friday was very busy with a lot of interest in the club stand and a good number of sales of members' work. Saturday was slightly less busy but still interesting demonstrating and talking to people about what I was turning.
It was also great to meet up with old friends and talk about what they are up to in their workshops!
I'm looking forward to the next Yandles show at the beginning of September.

9th April - Today I attended a course on colouring and texturing, again at George Foweraker's workshop but this time with Mark Raby. It was mainly demonstrations of lots of ways to finish, colour and texture turnings but we did get to have a go with spirit stains! I got loads of ideas to use on my turnings, I just need to try them out!

March 2014

22nd and 23rd March - During this weekend I demonstrated at the Westcountry Game Fair at the Bath and West showground on behalf of the AWGB. The aim was to promote the art and craft of woodturning beyond the usual audience of woodworking shows.

There was a lot of interest in the demonstrations during the weekend and I thoroughly enjoyed talking to members of the public who were interested in seeing what can be produced on the lathe and also to those who were new to turning or considering taking it up.

The AWGB travelling exhibition (of mainly professional turners' work) and my own display provided a good opportunity for discussion and helped raise the profile of turned items.

A view of the stand showing the AWGB travelling exhibition in the background and my display in the foreground.

Me turning!

8th and 9th March - I attended a two day course on hollow turning run by Mark Sanger and George Foweraker. It was an excellent course and it was great that the other people on the course were also members of Martock Woodturners Club. We turned an open vase using wet walnut on the first day and a closed form from spalted sycamore on the second day. Hollowing through a hole of less than 3cm was a bit daunting but we all managed to produce two successful items!

 Intense concentration hollowing the open walnut vase on day 1!

 Shaping the sycamore hollow form on day 2.

 Hollowing through a small hole in the top.

 Group photo!

Ready for drying before applying a wax finish.